


the words above my voice

by beautaefulmistake



Category: Kpop - Fandom, NCT (Band)
Genre: Compulsive Liar, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 10:21:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18221837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beautaefulmistake/pseuds/beautaefulmistake





	the words above my voice

The amount of time it took to the new funny-haired kid to be fairly popular among the students made Mark wonder if people somehow worked like Youtube and Lee Donghyuck was just like a video on the trending page.

"Stop staring." Renjun chuckled and shook his friend's shoulder when he noticed Mark wasn't paying attention to him. "Mark."

"Uh? What?" The older looked over at his Chinese friend, who had both eyebrows raised at him. They were sitting in the cafeteria of the school, it was the only time of the day where Mark coincided with his best friend —since Renjun was a year below him— so they usually spent the whole half an hour together. "Oh, sorry, I was..."

"Totally staring at the new kid." The statement wasn't true at all, in fact, Mark was staring at the pretty boy the new kid was talking to. Renjun eyed the other two and smiled, turning back to Mark. "Or Jaemin."

"Oh my God, shut up." He grumbled and took a bite out of his cereal bar.

"I still think he shouldn't have rejected you." A couple months before, Mark had gotten all his strength and confidence to ask Jaemin out, at least on a date, or even just to stay there and talk, the black-haired didn't mind as long as he got to be with the guy he wanted to be with. However, things didn't turn out exactly the way he wanted, and not because Jaemin was in a relationship —which he wasn't—, but because the younger simply couldn't see Mark as a boyfriend, he couldn't wrap his head around the idea of the older as a significant other. So he didn't even give him a try.

"It's fine." The raven-haired muttered, not wanting to continue with the conversation. And Renjun, being the good and old friend he was, decided to drop it as well.

[...]

Mark found himself reading a book at the library, as surprising as that was; even for him. He wasn't the type of person to enjoy activities in which he had to sit and be relaxed, he didn't even like sitting and talking to people —something he would only have done for Jaemin and occasionally for Renjun when the younger needed to talk—.

"Mark" The aforementioned looked around to find the origin of the voice who had just called him. "Here." He heard a chuckle almost behind him and turned around, finding one of the girls in his class.

"Oh, hey there, Yoori." The male smiled and the red-haired smiled back. "Did you need anything?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you" She exclaimed happily. Yoori had been Mark's friend in the past, their parents would meet and take their children with them so they could play. Over the years —and because of their lack of interests in common— both of them had drifted apart when it came to their daily life, but they knew they could always rely on the other.

"Congratulate me?"

"Yeah! I didn't know you were dating him, he's such a lovely guy, you're so lucky." A wide grin appeared on her lips and Mark couldn't help it but furrow his eyebrows at the comment. "I always wondered who you would end up with."

"I... What? I'm not dating anybody." He muttered, Yoori simply giggled and shook her head.

"Don't be embarrassed or worried about it, okay? Everyone supports your relationship." Mark's breath hitched and Yoori waved goodbye, congratulating him once again before leaving the male standing, confused and worried about the rumours being spread about him.

But mostly, who the hell is he dating?

[...]

"Lee Donghyuck?!" Renjun exclaimed as soon as Mark opened the door.

"What?" The black-haired was beyond confused because of Yoori's comment, he didn't need his best friend yelling names at him.

"You're dating Lee fucking Donghyuck?"

"Am I?" Mark furrowed his eyebrows. So it's him. "Who told you that?"

"Chenle!" To him, Renjun seemed way too excited for the news, he hadn't been this excited when he told him about Jaemin, but it seemed to be different. This time it was a stupid rumor. "Apparently Donghyuck was talking about it earlier."

"Donghyuck said we were dating?"

"Yeah, had you guys agreed on keeping it on the low? Because he's not exactly doing that, for sure." A sigh escaped Mark's lips and he let Renjun in, closing the door afterward. He turned to his friend.

"I'm not dating anyone." The honey-haired seemed taken aback. After all, he expected Mark opening up and telling him all the details about his relationship, not denying it. Not to him, his best friend.

"But he said..."

"He's a fucking liar."

[...]

Mark entered his friend's classroom and even if he had been a junior less than a year before, he felt nostalgic about it. At least until he spotted the liar sitting on a desk, surrounded by other students. Donghyuck hadn't noticed Mark's presence until a couple students started making teasing noises and saying things such 'Hyuck! Look who came looking for you!' or 'Mark Lee being boyfriend goals!'

When both of them locked gazes, Mark's didn't seem friendly at all and it seemed to demand an explanation from the younger, who simply grinned at him and stood up.

"I'll keep telling you guys later." Donghyuck walked towards the older male and signed to follow him, to which Mark scoffed but obeyed. They arrived to a silent part of the corridor, the black-haired checked the hour and looked at the male standing in front of him.

"Well?" He asked, expecting the other to start talking.

"Well, what?"

"Well, why are you telling people we're dating?" If he had been in other situation, Donghyuck would have laughed at Mark's face, but he knew the older was mad enough and definitely didn't want to make it worse.

"I..." He shrugged. "I felt like it."

"You felt like it?" Mark asked in disbelief. The other's attitude bothered him so he took a deep breath and tried to talk Donghyuck out of it. "Elaborate?"

"A girl asked me if I was available so I said I liked boys and that I was dating one, she asked who my boyfriend was, and you're really cute." Donghyuck smiled, however, Mark didn't react to the compliment and kept the pursed lips and frown on his features. "So I said it was you."

"You could've just said he was in a different school? What the hell?"

"Mark, I think you should-"

"Hey, sorry if I'm interrupting anything." The younger's words were cut by another person, someone who made Mark turn to him quickly, wearing a smile once again.

"Hey, Jaemin, no, you're not interrupting, can I do something for you?" Nervousness was noticeable in Mark's voice, which Donghyuck giggled at. Jaemin simply smiled and shook his head.

"I just wanted to congratulate you guys, I hope you two make each other happy." The black-haired was about to tell his crush that they weren't really dating, maybe make Donghyuck confess, but Jaemin had already said his goodbye and started walking away when he had gotten the confidence to reply.

"You're whipped." Mark glared at him.

"Shut up." Suddenly, the glare turned into widened eyes and the smile he flashed at Jaemin was nothing compared to the grin that was now playing on his lips. "I have an idea."

"That sounds bad..."

[...]

"So you want to fake date me so you can show this guy you are a good boyfriend?" Mark nodded, glad he didn't have to explain one more time the plan to Donghyuck. "So what do I get in return?"

"Me not cutting your tongue for lying about me." Even if Mark thought the younger would have asked for something else, he simply shrugged and nodded. 

"Whatever, you know? Once I made a deal like this one, I went to this place and it felt overwhelming, I was there, the falls stood there as giants, my heart was about to-."

"Okay, anyway, are you in?" At first, Donghyuck glared at Mark for cutting his narration, but then softened his gaze and nodded again. "Cool, now we hold hands, I walk you to your class, which is also Jaemin's, so make sure he sees us, and can I kiss you on the lips?" Donghyuck raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"That was quite direct." Not wanting to argue, Mark intertwined his fingers with Donghyuck. He could feel the younger's smooth skin and started to feel self-conscious because what if his hands were sweating? "You can, by the way, if there are no feelings a kiss it's not much more than a high five."

"A high five." The raven-haired chuckled. Even if he didn't find Donghyuck exactly the kind of person he wanted to have around, he understood why he had gotten so well known among everyone. 

They started walking towards Donghyuck's class, Renjun shot Mark a questioning look which was responded by a sigh as he continued walking. Suddenly, when they were already in front of the class, the younger turned to his fake boyfriend and smiled widely.

"See you after class, baby?" The older was bewildered by the other's sudden act, so he put a smile on as well and kissed his forehead.

"Of course, but remember you are the baby here." It took Donghyuck all his strength to not raise his eyebrow and laugh at Mark, so instead, he puffed his cheeks. "See you."

The younger tiptoed to reach Mark's cheek and placed a kiss there, earning a few giggles and 'awh' sounds from his classmates.

"See you." And he entered the classroom leaving a smiling Mark behind him. His plan was going to work.

After their classes, Donghyuck and Mark walked home together, wanting the more people possible to see them. The younger didn't want to seem like a liar and Mark wanted any kind of information on how good of a boyfriend he was to Jaemin.

"How did we meet?" The smaller male looked at his fake boyfriend.

"I have already told people about it." He confessed, adding a dreamy smile at the end. It really felt like his story was out of some romantic book for teenagers.

"And how was it? I should know."

"Well, a couple months ago I had just arrived here, I was new and didn't really know anyone, but I did go every day to this cute park to walk my dog, where a cute guy." He looked at Mark, who was attentively listening to the story. "Here is where you come, so you walked your dog a lot in that par-"

"Donghyuck, I don't have a dog." The shorter moved his hand in a 'whatever' movement and continued his story.

"Our dogs kind of became best friends so we started hanging out more with them, and sometimes even without them. Turns out one day you were waiting for me at the park but I never arrived, I was at the hospital because I had fainted in the middle of the street, you called my mom, you had her phone because you had been over at my house a few times and she had insisted on it. She was working and couldn't go with me to the hospital, so she gave you all the information to find me." Throughout the story, Mark had been letting small sounds as a reaction to the tale. Donghyuck was great at expressing himself, he had even tried to add dramatism to it with his tone and pauses. "You ran to the hospital, it was raining, but they didn't let you in because you had your dog with you, however, you weren't going to leave me alone in this, you knew I had no one."

"So what did I do?" Mark asked with widened eyes.

"You entered anyway, ran and looked for me in every single damn room." He smiled. "Until you found me, I was quite well and eating yogurt, you had totally overreacted. But as soon as you saw me you stormed into the room and kissed me passionately, then asked me to never leave your side and be your boyfriend."

"That's so damn cute." The older confessed with a chuckle and even a dreamy smile. He craved romance.

"I know." Once again, Donghyuck glanced at Mark. "Hey, would your parents let you have a dog?"

[...]

Mark didn't want to admit it, but he was enjoying Donghyuck's presence much more than he had expected, even if at first they used to argue every day over any little thing. The younger would often go to his house at random times and mostly, they would be together at lunch or whenever they had a free period; not only everyone else saw them as a couple, but they had started to act like one even if there was no one watching.

"I just want to sleep." Donghyuck muttered, rubbing his eyes and yawning at the same time. It had been a long day at school and they had just finished the last exams before the Christmas holidays.

Yes, they had been friends and faking a relationship for about three months.

"Same." Mark was resting on the sofa with the younger besides him. They had been watching a movie but none of them was actually paying attention to it.

"You know, I'm fully aware that I'm not really your boyfriend, but I could use some cuddles right now." Even if Mark found his friend adorable, there was one thing that made his heart specially flutter,it was the way Donghyuck wrinkled his nose cutely whenever he was unsure of his words. He didn't like the younger in a romantic way, however, every day that passed he found more and more things about the junior he found amusing.

Instead of replying that he, in fact, wanted to cuddle as well, he decided to lean even more on the sofa and open his arms. The reaction Mark earned was a wide smile and a very cute boy throwing himself into the older's arms.

"Have I ever told you how much I like your hair?" Compared to Mark's hair, which was black and boring —at least that's what he thought about it, because Donghyuck found it beautiful—, the younger's hair was bright and full of different colors. Similar to Renjun's honey hair but a couple tones darker and covered with stray strings of hair in different colors.

"No, but I'm glad you do." Donghyuck smiled and placed his head on the older's chest, closing his eyes afterward. "Have you talked with Jaemin?"

The topic 'Jaemin' was something Mark wanted to avoid as much as possible, he had been distant with the pink-haired male and it felt really wrong faking the relationship with Donghyuck, almost as if it had been doing the opposite effect. But he also didn't want to tell the short male in his arms.

"Not lately." He felt how Donghyuck nodded and none of them said another word until they woke up from their nap.

The thing with Lee Donghyuck was that Mark never knew when he was being honest or when he was lying, and he knew the younger couldn't control it and his first impulse usually was telling a lie. He had learned that in the hard way. There had been too many times where Donghyuck's lies had made him confused or even had caused repercussions in his studies, such as him having to attend Italian classes just because his friend had assured he knew someone who wanted to join and save the club. But Mark could handle it.

[...]

If there was one situation Donghyuck didn't want to be involved in, was being with Jaemin and Mark at the same time.

"Can I have some of your fries?" Mark glanced at Jaemin and smiled.

"Of course, Nana." The pink-haired smiled back and took some of the older's fries, placing them in his own little fries bag. Donghyuck had only agreed to go with his fake boyfriend because he had promised to buy him a meal at KFC, his all-time favorite fast food restaurant.

If he had known Jaemin was going with them, he would have declined the offer.

"So, what are your plans for when you finish high school?" If Mark had to be honest, he didn't know what to do, which pace to choose or where he sees himself in ten years.

"I don't know." A subtle, sad smile played on his lips and Jaemin, meaning no harm, placed a hand on his, trying to give some support to his friend. However, Donghyuck tried his best to not look at the almost intertwined hands.

"It's okay, you'll get there, you still have like... What? Five months? You got this." Almost instantly, Mark showed a bright smile and nodded quickly.

"You're right."

That was Donghyuck's last straw. And before he even realized, he was walking away from the two males who looked at him in confusion.

"Donghyuck! Wait, what happens?" Instead of Mark, it was Jaemin who was calling out the angry male.

"You know what happens?" He turned around to face the confused boys with tears threatening to fall and a blurry gaze. "After all this shit, he chooses you."

"Go after him." Jaemin said as soon as he noticed that Donghyuck was not turning back.

"But he said-"

"He needs to know it, Mark."

Maybe the older shouldn't have taken all that time to decide if he should have gone check on his friend, letting him know the truth, or if he should have just let it go and let him cool off. Now he had no idea where Donghyuck was.

"Donghyuck!" He screamed, earning a few looks from people on the street. "Come on! Don't be petty!"

"Is that your tactic to find me? Insult me?" The black-haired quickly turned around to the younger male who was leaning on a pole. The first impulse that run through Mark's body, immediately making him walk towards the boy, was to hug Donghyuck tightly.

"I was so worried." Even if the smaller male —who felt even smaller due to being in between Mark's arms— tried to keep a cold posture, he couldn't resist to the warmth of the other's embrace.

"Shut up, I hate you." Mark separated from Donghyuck and looked closely at him, a lovingly smile on his lips.

"I really hope you're lying."

"Get away from me."

"I just need you to tell me the truth, Hyuck"

"I hate you."

"Please..."

"Fuck you, I like you so damn much."

"Donghyuck... I promise I wanted to tell you this earlier, I wanted to stop whatever we are having." Mark looked around and thought about how special he wanted to make the moment and not just talk in the middle of the street; but he was already on it and the pause was killing Donghyuck. "I talked with Jaemin about the past, about us, you and I..."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"We talked about everything, and yet... I didn't feel the same way I feel when I'm around you, when we talk, even about nonsense! You make everything seem so beautiful and magic, I could never get tired of hearing you speak, and that's something I never felt with him." At this point of the speech, Mark's ears felt hot and red because of all the embarrassing facts he was letting the guy he likes know. "So, why am I telling you all this? Because I really like you."

"You're more of a shameless liar than I am! You like Jaemin, I'm just... I don't even know anymore." The male's exasperated sigh made Mark's heart clench a bit. He had been really hurting Donghyuck, and now he felt like he had no right to say Donghyuck was hurting him back.

"You know what you are for me?" He kept trying, not wanting to let the younger go. "You are that person I can just lie down with, saying nothing, yet feel completely full and happy, you are that person who, for some reason, understands me more than anyone, hell! We even know what food bring each other depending on the mood, Donghyuck, I don't know if you understand... But these months you've been my actual boyfriend, because we were acting as such even if no one was around to see, and I just want to continue everything we have, except this time you could be my actual boyfriend."

In the middle of Mark's speech, Donghyuck had promised himself he wouldn't cry in front of the older, even if they had already seen each other because of random rom-coms and dramas. However, it was a promise he couldn't keep.

"Please don't cry..." Mark brushed his thumb on Donghyuck's cheek, not wanting to get too close in case the younger didn't want that.

"You like me the way I am, even if I lie to you." The younger sniffed and chuckled, still letting the tears run through his face. "Even if I'm clingy when we see each other after a long time, even if I'm a rude bitch."

"That's just a small part of you, you're so much more, and I'm sure there's a lot I still have to discover." Both of them smiled at each other with wide grins. "Please let me."

And, taking Mark by surprise, Donghyuck tiptoed to reach the older's face and capture his lips with his own. Even after all the times they had to fake goodbyes and greetings, or even celebrations as a 'couple', they never had gotten the guts to kiss each other on the lips, much to Donghyuck's displeasure, the boy really thought he could man up and do it.

The black-haired had never expected the younger's lips to be so soft and cold, but it was something he wasn't going to complain about. He found their kiss just perfect as sloppy and messy as it was.

"I like you a lot." And Mark didn't have to worry at all about it being a lie; he could see love and care in Donghyuck's eyes. And that was all that he needed.


End file.
